Friday, January 19, 2007

Deckhead repair

After investigation, it transpires that the holes in the deckhead all correspond to where the forward railings are welded to the deck.

It also appears that, for some reason, the railings have been moved back from the edge at some point, so one or two of the leaks in the deckhead appear to be from the spot where the rails used to welded to the deck.

You can see in the picture that we, and by we I really mean Robin, have cut the rusted steel out completely and welded new plate back in.

The deck rails have also been welded back on top of an 8mm thick 'footing'. If the railings get a knock for any reason, this will help absorb any impact and help prevent cracking, or tearing, the underlying steel.

This is the first of eight that have to be done.

It also occurs to me that I should check the height of the rails against current MCA codes of practice (1 metre I believe), as I may as well address this issue seeing as I have to cut and weld all of the supports anyway.

Rob, I may even give straightening some of those bent rails a go at the same time.